Monday, 26 October 2015

At work, I have got this colleague who is always on my case. And I don't mean it in a nasty way because that kind of enforced camaraderie of office life is needed from time to time. However he has such a big mouth most times that I lack response to his cynicism which is rare with me but I just bite my upper lip and let go. Its actually been a personal decision for sometime. The older I get, I find out that not every battle is worth fighting. I have been determined to choose my battles wisely as well as my response. Some statements/remarks are so foolish however, but on days like this, I just brew the coffee stronger, ask God for grace, get some fresh air and continue my day as normal. This is not part of the story just an interjection(hahaha)

However, living in London, I normally leave for work in these flats, that have seen better days and I change to proper shoes before the doors open to the public. These shoes have survived the holocaust, 2nd &3rd world wars, Hiroshima bombings, in fact you name it!(hahahha). Thanks to marks and spencer and their 100% original leather goods, the shoe has still refused to breathe its last breath. With these shoes, the remark that someone/something fits into ones life like an "old pair of shoes", comes alive

Today however, this guy picks up my shoes from under my desk. He lifts it up and goes "Elly can you come and have your shoes" As he held it up, I just said a silent prayer "God, let him not smell those shoes or the entire team wont hear the last of it" Anyways, that is one prayer, that was not answered because right before my very eyes, he brought the neglected shoes to his nose!!!!!

I braced myself up for what was to come, and to my shock he goes, well they don't smell but come and pick them up. I couldn't believe my eyes and rushed and actually smelt them and it just smelt of original leather, nothing more. I saw the look on his face as I laughed, "And I screamed Yes!!!!! my hygiene is top notch. The only thing he didn't know however was the prayer I prayed before, and the panic I almost had before it all(hahaha)

I recently read an interview on Linked In pulse between Jeff Weiner and Oprah and I must say I was captivated from start to finish. It asks the question that I actually have a few of the answers to myself but my major challenge is coordinating all I want from life and all I want to give in life hmmmmm.
Life! Life! Life! As I just write this, in drops in my heart that I need to read the Purpose Driven Life again by Rick Warren.
I really enjoyed reading the interview and it made me reflect on a lot of things in life. I hope it does the same for you!

One of my favorite parts of “The Oprah
Winfrey Show” came after the cameras stopped rolling.

I would spend time with the studio audience
in Chicago and open up an ongoing Q and A. Inevitably, the conversation would
move toward honest and sincere talk about their lives. In almost every session
I’d ask: "What do you want?"

It’s a deceivingly simple question — and
one I’ve found most people can’t answer. Yet it’s profoundly important. What do
you really want in your life? And where are you on the path towards what you
really want?

What I’ve come to know is that so much of
our lives is controlled by our intentions and our beliefs. It matters what I
believe, and what you believe, and what we as a community come together and
believes. Our intentions become thoughts … our thoughts become beliefs … our
beliefs become words and actions. From inception, our intentions and beliefs
carry power; what we believe is often what shows up for us.

When I realized the incredible power of
manifesting

One day I was at my farm in Indiana. It was a rainy day and I was thinking,
"Gee, I sure would like some tomato soup." Soon after, the caretaker
who lived across the street came in with a pot of tomato soup. I asked her:
“What made you do that?" She said: "Well, honey, I had these
tomatoes. So I thought maybe you'd like some tomato soup.” So I was like, Wow,
if you can get tomato soup like that, what else is possible? What else can I
manifest? So I started trying it with other things. I have seen it happen over
and over and over again. You control a lot by your thoughts.

The conversation that taught me about life
in the simplest and most powerful way

I did an interview in the late '80s with a
mother who had watched her son die. She
crawled into bed with him as he was dying. And his last words were, "Oh,
it was all so simple." And then he smiled. When she said that, I got chills.
We're going to take our last breath and say, "Why were we struggling all
that time? Why were we swimming
upstream? Where all we had to do was just look at each other and accept each
other for who each of us represents on the planet.” I thought back to that
quote. Ah, it was so simple. I didn't have to fight that hard. It didn't have
to be that hard. That show, along with many others, had a powerful and calming
impact on me in terms of the way I led my own life.

Why we all ultimately want the same thing

In speaking to the audience after my show, I
kept hearing people stand up and say, "You know, I did the thing I was
supposed to do. I went to school. I got the degree. I even got my master's. I
did the work. And now what? I feel like that there should be something more.”
And so that became one of the tenets of our show. How do you give and help to
fulfill that something more that people are looking for?

Really inspiring if you ask me, check it out on (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/simple-life-changing-question-hardly-anyone-can-answer-oprah-winfrey)

Wednesday, 21 October 2015

I am reading a couple journals and I came across this excerpt from a book by Susan Vinnicombe & John Bank" Women With Attitude: Lessons For Career Management" (2002), which really got me intrigued because of the facts stated. I saw this as necessary not just in the corporate environment but in the 'Real' world in general.

photocredit: people-clipart.com

In their extensive research of executive women, they suggested ten factors
for women's success in the corporate world. These factors are extremely
essential whether the woman executive is one within the traditional corporate
arena and/or within her own initiated organization. These factors include: (1)
She must be confident; (2) She must self-promote; (3) She must constantly take
risks; (4) She must always be visible; (5) She must know how to pace her
career/ career acceleration; (6) She must be a mentor and
must be mentored; (7) She must develop her portfolio careers; in other words,
resume building through additional work experience either through part-time
work or consulting assignments to build necessary leadership skills; (8) She
must have international experience, either through educational experiences
and/or work assignments; (9) She must serve as a role model and hopefully has
benefited from some of her own; and, (10) She must develop a leadership style
that is comparable (not the same) to that of her male colleagues.Interesting dont you think? Thinking of reading the book like I am, then look for it on Amazon, I have been there already):
Have any success story to share? Don't hold back, send me an email: elly@ellyeleanor.org.

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Saturday, 17 October 2015

Most times, the wrong diet is not always the preferred choice but the available choice. In trying to be healthy, I have no problems at all. I love to cook and I love variety. Some times however the portions served are a bit ouch! in comparison to the exercise done(hahaha).

The sin I am yet to conquer, is the sin of having so much crisps, cakes,cookies and freshly made croissants! God help me!. I have overcome fizzy drinks, in fact I cant remember the last time I had one. I got upset with the sugar content of the smoothies I get from my grocery store especially when I pay a bit higher for the named brands, so I started making mine fresh. And I promise you, anyone who has my smoothies always comes back for more(hahaha). I have loads of water, I could compete with a fish which is good hahaha

Yesterday however as I had my feet up after work and watched tv, I decided to make some cookies with oats. I cook really well but when it comes to baking, I have a bit of a cold feet. I just think its so much work. But in August, I decided to challenge myself to start doing some baking and I am making an effort(hahaha)

Please do not ask me for measurements because that was discretionary (hahaha, what a fabulous cook I am!). I just mixed them all together and I came out with this

I lined the baking pan with baking paper and the oven was already at 220 degrees centigrade, After about 10 minutes I reduced it to about 140 degrees centigrades and left it for another 10 minutes and I came out with this

It might not look the best, but it tasted absolutely Yum! My initial plan was to use blueberries, but I had none left and next time, I am adding no honey.I don't think its necessary but I will be adding more nuts. I am taking this healthy living seriously(hahaha). How about you? Share some tips.

Going to have a hot cuppa with my left over cookies, and did I say its so filling? You hardly feel peckish after this at least for the next 5 hours.

Friday, 16 October 2015

This blog is created with the vision to inspire, I always say, our model is different. We are not your regular gossip site, we are here to change lives for good as God gives inspiration. We also shout to the roof tops, individuals who are doing really good in their different endeavours, Today one of those is a company I am so proud to announce, and its none other than the prestigious Watermarks.

Check out more on watermarks.com.ng. I have known one of the Directors Maggie as I call her for over 15 years, and her attention to detail, precision, creativity and unique style never ceases to amaze me.This is not an advert, but my joy and pride in seeing that young ladies are doing a lot of great stuff in their different fields. Beyond, the weaves, super sexy heels, and well made up face, is some hardworking, intelligent and daunting lady making a difference in the branding sector.

Watermarks pride themselves in creating masterpieces, Delivering marketing and branding solutions that deliver ground breaking results. And their services are not restricted to your location.

Saturday, 10 October 2015

Wednesday, 7 October 2015

And Yes, we are proud to say that our target was to have 4 children enrolled in the best private schools in their various regions and we made it. We couldn't be happier. Thanks to all who contributed in several ways, you made a difference to these lives. From the before and after pictures, its difficult to say that they are the same children. It just goes to show that everyone can be great if given the right opportunity. They are having the best form of education, lunch provided, all books provided, school bags, private tutors for after school lessons as most of them need intensive lessons to be at par with children of their ages, and this is all made possible by Ellyeleanor foundation. We hope to help many more children but cant do it without you. We are coming up with a project, that literally says "adopt my bills".... In this you literally adopt responsibility of a child's welfare and you will get regular feedback from us. Once in a while, it would be a delight if you could be at the child's open days, sports activities, school functions etc.

This project is made possible by several private schools too that have given the charity a huge discount and if they had not done this, this dream would not have come to fruition.
We are grateful to
1. Goldenchild International Nursery and Primary School
2.Keystone Montesori Primary School
3. Christian International Primary School.

These schools are all located in Imo state Nigeria and are noted as part of the best in the state. Other schools have also accepted partnering with us, and as the funds are made possible, new projects will commence. We really need you to be part of this.
And for all who have been supportive of this cause, we are so grateful and can't thank you enough. You have indeed written your name in gold in many hearts
Ellyeleanor Foundation......... Every child matters.....
www.ellyeleanor.org

Tuesday, 6 October 2015

Friday, 2 October 2015

No matter how tight our schedule is, some things need to be done and when they are not done, either the weather/ an occasion, or even a caricature made would make us do the needful. And one of them is foot care hmmmm.

Now when you live in the temperate region and you have to deal with sub zero degrees for most of the year, you have no choice but to hide those feet in socks and boots. Not just any pair of socks and boots, but the thicker the socks and higher the boots the better. Easy peasy! the foot is out of sight. Don't get too excited though, cos the rays will shine through again and even if it's delayed, there might be just that occasion that needs those feet to be out in those super high sexy sandals and then you have got to do the needful. Apart from all of the above, if you are however as finicky as I am sometimes, you might just look at your feet and go yuck! These feet are definitely not mine, they belong to someone else meddling in muddy waters (laughs ).

And when you get to that stage you bring out the pedicure set if you don't want to use the professionals.

I like to keep mine as basic as possible. I
don't have enough patience for some activities, one of the reasons why my make
up routine is soooo basic, nothing fancy. Someone please remind me that YouTube still exists(laughs).

Now when it comes to pedicure, I have been
going about it the wrong way which is soaking before scrubbing but I used a different technique today. It might
come in handy for you!

Step 1

Get all you need together in one spot, you
don't want to wet the whole floors with your feet and be in the danger of
slipping.

Step 2

With your
foot file, scrub out the dead cells vigorously, not neglecting the heels
and sides of your feet.

Step 3

Get a basin of water with temperature
slightly above 39 degrees Celsius. To
this basin add your foot wash, if you don't have any add an ultra moisturising
body wash. To this add some essential oils like argan oil and vitamin E oils,
or even original shea butter as well as slices of fresh lemon. Yes fresh lemons! I didn't
actually plan to do this but as I
soaked my feet and read a book, I found out that I was quite
thirsty. I had a bottle of water close to me as well as
a glass of water that had lemons in it as I always add lemons to my water. The
problem however was that the glass containing the lemons had been there all
morning and a call just came in so at this point I just couldn't move my wet
feet. #

I
just poured the glass of water containing the lemons into the basin of water that I had my feet in and
carried on with my conversation as I could now use the glass for my water. The
conversation however lasted a while which meant my feet were soaked all the
while. And by the time I brought them out, I couldn't believe it, my feet
looked so clean in fact I will say a bit bleached (laughs) the remaining dead cells came off
with little effort from the foot file, not only that but it was intensely
moisturised, quite supple that anyone
could kiss my feet over and over again (laughs ) that's on a lighter note. But
whatever you do with your feet, when you
soak, add lemons.

Step 4

Use a sugar/salt scrub on the entire feet
to wash off the last bit of any loose hanging dead cells, then rinse off in
fresh water, dry and moisturise. All done! Finito!

You have any interesting fact you would
like to share? don't hesitate to do
that.Drop an email/ a comment

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About Me

Prime mover Ellyeleanor Foundation, a children's charing which provides tuition fees for children fro less privilged homes.Find out more @ ellyeleanor.org. Main editor Ellyeleanor Blog..... Everyone can make a difference if you put your mind to it.... I am pioneering a move to change the world one child at a time and to inspire moments of optimism, hope & direction via ellyeleanor.blogspot.co.uk.